By Jason Mulligan – Images by the Author
Some truck builds start with a blueprint and a plan. “Elwood” started out with a vibe, and the story grew from there. Having grown up around the farmlands of Bakersfield, California, Louis Esparza was always a fan of Chevy trucks, specifically Squarebodies. To be even more specific: two-tone blue work trucks.
His original plan was to restore and build a pair of matching blue Squarebodies in tandem. This 1978 longbed, single-cab dually, named Elwood and its Crew Cab dually sibling, then nicknamed “Jake.” The nod of course was to the Blues Brothers. And if anyone’s wondering, the Blues Brothers debuted on SNL in 1978 too, so the names were basically mandatory. Call it coincidence if you want, but anyone who’s owned an old truck knows they’ve got a way of steering the story themselves.
The story took a hard turn once Sean Ramáge at Empire Fabrication in Ventura, California, started digging into what looked like a decent, honest classic farm truck. Peeling back layers on the rare, single-cab dually, the project made its own decision. The outside had looked like a decent truck. Under the surface was the usual Squarebody rust résumé: cab corners, pinch weld around the firewall and cowl, and the fender corners—and in some parts, thick Bondo covered up the damage, other areas the metal was Swiss cheesed after years of rust.
Rather than patching a problem truck, the crew committed to doing it right with original GM sheetmetal. That meant donor parts and some serious metal surgery. Thankfully, Ramáge had some donor GM steel around the shop as he has reworked several Squarebody trucks before, including a slammed Suburban and a 4×4 K5 Blazer.
Once everything was cut, fitted, and welded up, the only real holdovers from the original truck were a single dually fender and a door. The firewall and a repaired portion of the floorpan cab from a donor cab.
Empire’s crew stitched the OE pieces together with the kind of precision they’re known for, then cleaned up the subtle stuff that separates restoration from custom. They set about smoothing sections of the firewall, refining factory spot welds, and reinforcing common problem areas, like adding bracing underhood where the hinges mount.
Everything was precisely gapped and metal-finished at Empire before heading over the hill to Valley Kustoms. The legendary body shop, pioneers in custom hot rods themselves, lightly skimmed the big body where it was needed. Then, hours were spent blocking and sharpening the lines until the panels read clean from every angle.
The paint is the same factory-style two-tone Brilliant Blue Poly and Light Blue that was sprayed and polished to a deep gloss. Adding more to make the truck feel period-correct are Deluxe Core package hood stripes that were painted on instead of old, cracked vinyl stripes. Squarebody trim from Mar-K went back on like it belonged, and up front the stainless grille was chromed while keeping factory 1978 inserts intact.
Badging followed the same theme: it looks factory until you get up close. Most of the emblems were custom designed and machined in billet, replacing the stock ’70s rancher-style pieces with sharper, cleaner versions. Right down to an Elwood 30 Diesel fender badge that riffs on the original and a Camper Special emblem was given an Empire Special twist.
Inside, the truck maintains the Squarebody rancher attitude Lou remembers. This includes keeping the factory roll-up windows but of course, adding all of the comfort and tech that would allow him to drive his daughters to school in every day and still head to the feed store afterward.
A factory bench was reupholstered in matching blue with blue plaid inserts after Elegance Interiors added bolsters to the bench seat. A pair of 12-inch Memphis Audio subs behind the seat in a box crafted by Art of Sound gets support from a custom set of kick panel speakers. Controlling it all is a clean billet-machined surround from Empire Fabrication that integrates a Kicker media controlled unit and Restomod Air controls.
Out back, the truck stays true to its longbed dually origin story and was built to work. A low-profile Empire Fabrication notch was installed with their flip kit to drop the back end down. A rear cradle was manufactured by Empire Fabrication that houses dual ViAir compressors and seamless air tanks all managed by Logiq air suspension with automatic leveling for better handling while towing project trucks, side-by-side off-road rigs, and Ag equipment around. Up front, Western Chassis 3-inch drop spindles and 2-inch coil springs completed the suspension work that was all finished in silver powdercoating by Pacific Powder Coating.
Elwood rolls on machined down 22.5-inch Alcoa semi wheels, mounted with custom billet adapters to make the semitruck hardware play nicely with the eight-lug hubs. The center caps were machined from solid aluminum to mimic a factory look from 1978. LED lighting upgrades, including UP Car Parts headlights and marker lights, plus an under-rail bed lighting utilizing a Ford Raptor switch, are all routed through a MoTec power block for a reliable electric system.
Underhood, you might expect to see an LS swap or even just the restored 454. Instead, Elwood runs a fresh 24-valve Cummins diesel engine from DFS. Originally, much like the truck itself before it went under the knife, the plan was to simply rob a donor diesel from a 1998 Dodge Ram but the block was no good and they started fresh. The Cummins diesel is backed by a six-speed Allison automatic; a combo chosen for reliability, towing, and real highway miles.
Upgrades include key parts from Banks Power, including a Monster-Ram and hot-side boost tube. The metal magicians at Empire Fabrication added their touches under to complete the package, including a custom inner cooler with aluminum radiator tubing and air intake. The factory valve cover was even stripped bare and machined smooth to match the look of the machined billet pieces and custom-fabricated parts. It’s not built up to be wild; it was built to be useful, with about 300 hp and 550 lb-ft of torque on tap to drag a trailer over the Grapevine without any drama.
Once Elwood hit the road, seeing a few other high-end dually trucks out in the scene, Lou and Ramáge knew they were on a “mission from God” to save more Squarebodies. Specifically, the blue two-tone versions of each model. Jake, now renamed “Recession,” and a single-cab short bed Squarebody dubbed “Regal,” are well underway at Empire Fabrication.
Like we stated at the beginning, these old farm trucks tend to create their own stories and memories. Lou plans to keep making those memories with his wife, Gabby, and daughters, Mary Lou and Sofia.
Check out this story in our digital edition here.
